Watching the eternity tread on TikTok has finally gotten me to continue writing this tragedy of a fanfiction.
This chapter is a LOT of dialogue.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Keter stood upon shattered ground, his Sword tens of times a minute. Yet every time the sword strikes the boulder, it is always in a set of three in quick succession. Every few dozen attempts, the time between the strikes lessened. Keter looked towards Cassie, frustrated it wasn't aimed at her, but it was there all the same.
"What is it, Cassie? I'm busy." Keter said as he gave a few heaved breaths.
"Keter," Cassie spoke a sense of disappointment held within those words.
Keter raised his head towards the sky and took a deep breath. "Sorry. The frustration is just-." Keter took another deep breath. "I pulled it off once in a much worse state, and yet I can't do it. What was it about that fight that let me pull off so many impossible things so easily?"
"I wouldn't have called it easy; you almost died." Cassie butted in.
"So? Not like it was the first time I've almost died." Keter shot with sarcasm dripping through his voice. He then took another deep breath to attempt to calm himself. "There was too much abnormality about that fight; it couldn't have just been me who caused it."
"You were actively using the blood of two separate gods. Was that not abnormal enough?" Cassie questioned.
"No. Neither of them should have boosted my physical strength enough for me to pull off the insane maneuvers that I did, let alone pull off flightless." Keter answered.
Cassie nodded then chuckled a little. "Would you be willing to tell me what you noticed?"
Keter looked over to her. "Have you gotten more visions?"
"Many. I get two a day most of the time. Not all of them are decipherable." Cassie said.
Keter considered it for a moment, then nodded. "The abnormality was that I survived at all. A battle between two gods, a daemon and a great terror, waged war within my body."
Cassie instantly butted in. "Wait- wait a minute. A daemon? And a great terror?"
Keter then explained. "The daemons were the closest existences to the gods; there were seven of them."
Cassie nodded as she took a breath. "And the great terror?"
"That's the second abnormality. The thing I was originally fighting was a fallen terror, yet somehow, before it died, it turned into a great terror. I also noticed that the monsters produced by the great sea got a lot weaker during that time." Keter said.
"We noticed something similar. Most of the bigger monsters within the sea disappeared, and we could only find awakened and dormant creatures as we crossed the Dark Sea." Cassie said.
Keter nodded, then continued on. "I was stronger, a lot stronger. If I had to guess, I would at least temporarily hold the physical strength of a master. My miracle held a lot more weight than it should have as well."
"I suppose you're not talking about mass?" Cassie questioned.
"Kind of. When I cast a miracle, it has to ground itself in reality. Ok, maybe that is not the best wording for it. A better way to put it is that the miracles mattered more than they should have. It's part of the reason my current miracles are weaker than what people think of when they think of miracles; they or I don't matter enough yet."
Cassie stayed quiet for a moment, then spoke. "I think I understand what happened, slightly. But continue before I tell you."
"Abnormality three, Lightless three-stage thrust. Not only should I not have been able to pull it off, but it should have killed me to perform it." Keter said.
"How so?" Cassie asks.
"I stole Lightless from a form of media I used to watch because it was one of the best things I could think of. And I somehow replicated it. Lightless three-stage thrust is made up of three thrusts, as its name suggests, but they all happen at the same time. Thus, they shatter casulity and make any and all armor useless."
"What is so abnormal about doing it? You were actively using both [The Light] and [The Fire] to assist you." Cassie questioned.
"I was not skilled enough, first of all. And second, my body was in too bad of a shape to do it, my healing wasn't really keeping up. And fourth, he gave me his title. It was weird, especially with what the Hassens were." Keter said.
"If I remember correctly, he declared you Hassen-I-Sabbeth?" Keter nodded. "I believe the reason for that one is different from the rest. But I think I still have an answer for it." Cassie finished.
"Well, what do you think it is?" Keter asked.
"For the last one, it's rather simple. Names have power. I don't know what kind of power but you might." Cassie said.
"Why do you think that?" Keter asked.
"You stopped Nephis from saying someone's name back when we were traveling across the Dark Sea," Cassie said.
"You were awake?" Keter asked.
"No, I was not, but I saw the conversation in a vision." Cassie clarified.
"You have a point, names do hold power, but I at least doubt it's similar to that man," Keter said. "What's the other reason?"
"You were not you after a certain point in that fight," Cassie stated.
Keter's gaze sharpened as he looked her in the eye. "Explain"
"You remember that in all of my visions, I see representations of people instead of them within it? Cassie asked.
"Yes, I do," Keter said.
"A bleeding light normally represents you, but when I received a vision of the battle, you were instead represented by a mass of worms in the form of a grandfather clock," Cassie said.
Keter only looked confused at what he heard. "A mass of worms in the form of a grandfather clock? Why do I feel like I remember that from somewhere?"
Cassie butted in. "That's not all, they showed affection. It's one of the reasons I know you weren't you."
"To whom?" Keter asked.
"To me. They noticed me somehow during the vision, and they seemed to help me. I don't know with what, though." Cassie answered.
Keter looked offended for a moment as the previous sentence caught up to him. He then snorted and smiled a little. "Why don't you go date the worms if they're so nice?"
Cassie rolled her eyes and smiled. "God, you're childish. Focus on the task at hand before I take your hand."
Keter just hitched an eyebrow in response.
Cassie looked confused for a moment, then chuckled once she figured it out. "I'd rather the worms."
Keter suppressed a laugh as he shook his head in response. "I'd rather the worms as well."
"Those poor worms don't deserve to have to deal with you, of all people." Cassie puts her hand in front of her heart with a mournful expression.
Cassie then stood up, letting go of their playful teasing as she said. "Well, we can continue this conversation later. You need to finish the preparation for the Lord of the Dead, don't you?"
Keter sighed and nodded. "Yeah you're right. Alright, I will see later."
Cassie nodded. "See you later."